Support Honoring Urbandale’s Founder!

Olmsted Elementary is being demolished and a new elementary school is being built on the land. The name of this new school is undetermined. Please support retaining the name “Olmsted,” as it is not just a sentimental school name, it is the very foundation of Urbandale’s history. Read why:

When Urbandale was incorporated as a city on April 16, 1917, it served as a streetcar suburb of Des Moines with its four coal mines. Several prominent local families were instrumental in not only its development, but its naming.

Among them were Leander and Charlotte Olmsted, who moved from New York to the area that is now known as Urbandale in the spring of 1867. They purchased 80 acres of land and built a house and raised two sons, Millard and Clarence, both of whom were instrumental in the formation and incorporation of Urbandale. Clarence served on Urbandale’s first town council, and Millard served on the first local school board.

Millard Olmsted and his wife farmed with his father, who built a new a home in 1904. There they raised six children in what was viewed as a typical farm house. Part of the Olmsted’s land became park and school land.

This is why the new school must be named Olmsted! Please support.